Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Zombie fire ants.

I spent the better part of today working through an E-Book about zombie fire ants (they come from South America), and yes, there really is such a thing, and that's really what they're called. Scientists have figured out that the best way to control the fire ant population is to introduce phorid flies, also immigrants from South America, to the infested area. Phorid flies inject their eggs into the bodies of fire ants. The egg begins to grow, and when it reaches the larva stage, it crawls up into the fire ant's head and feeds off of its brain. (I am not making this up.) The fire ant begins to act "weird" (that happens when something starts eating your brain) and winds up outside the colony, roaming around aimlessly (hence the name zombie), until finally its head falls off.

Some days I feel like that. Fortunately, today isn't one of them. But for future reference, when I tell you I'm having a zombie-fire-ant day, you'll know what I'm talking about.

When I wasn't learning about the binomial nomenclature and feeding habits of South American insects, I was torturing myself at Pilates. Queen P decided today that we don't look good in our jeans, so we're going to work our "lower core" until we whip it into shape worthy of denim. Class begins at 4. At 4:45, she looked at the clock and was amazed at how quickly the time was flying by! I was inwardly begging for mercy. When she announced at 4:55 that we were going to do some planks, I outwardly groaned. Joe (a classmate) said, "I love planks!"

I wonder if I could sic the phorid flies on them both . . .

Be thankful ~

Karen

PS. As I write this, I can hear a mouse nibbling on something in the kitchen trash can behind me. Five years in this house, and this is the first mouse we've had inside. Usually the snakes keep them in check. *sigh* I hate mouse hunting.